The question that Ezekiel is dealing with here is one of personal responsibility. Should a person be held personally responsible for his own life decisions? We have a tendency to blame others for our poor choices and our suffering in this life. Most often we have a tendency to blame our parents and other influential people in our lives (such as our parish priests) for the bad decisions that we have made in life and for the suffering that they have caused. We point to one experience or another in our lives that causes us to conclude that we have been abused, that we are victims of a broken system and that because of the failures of those who have formed us that we should be excused for our poor decisions today. We want to be “let off the hook” and claim that someone else should be held responsible for the suffering that we have experienced in our lives. It is “unfair” that we should be held responsible for the deficiencies in our upbringing. In our way of thinking, we are all a product of our upbringing and therefore we are not responsible for our own actions. If we say “no” to God it is because that “no” has been written in our hearts by someone in our history that has refused us the love and care that we are owed.
At the end of our lives, we will be judged by the final decision that our life represents in freedom as we can say “yes” or “no” to the eternal love that God the Father offers to us. Is that a “fair” judgment? What if we have a poor father image because we have not received a good example of love by our own fathers? What if our fathers were absent and not involved in our lives? What if we were abused by the father figures in our lives? What if we were poor and lacked the necessary resources for a good life? All of our lives we have been promised a “yes” in love but too often that yes has been a disappointment to us and has been experienced as a “no.” Do we have real freedom in our lives or are we just a product of our own deficient experiences of love? In the musical, West Side Story, the Jets sing in protest to Officer Krupke, “Our fathers all are junkies, our mothers all are drunks, golly Moses, naturally we’re punks!” At the end of the day, isn’t it really God who should take responsibility for the suffering that we have in our lives and for our consequent bad experiences in life? Can’t we just fairly say that our failure to love in our lives is the result of our not being loved in this life? Can’t I just blame the sin in my life on a sinful world and social deficiency, as the Jets sing, “I got a social disease!”? Isn’t my way as fair as God’s way? These are difficult questions. To what degree am I personally responsible for my own life and my own decisions?
St. Paul addresses this question in his letter to the Corinthians: “So when I intended this, did I act lightly? Or do I make my plans according to human considerations, so that with me it is “yes, yes” and “no, no”? As God is faithful, our word to you is not “yes” and “no.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not “yes” and “no,” but “yes” has been in him. For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; Therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory. But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.” (2Cor 1,17-22) This really gets to the heart of the matter. Jesus gives us an example of single heartedness and single mindedness. Jesus was the yes of God to all of his promises, their total fulfillment. We are able to make our response of yes to God because we are the children of God and the Spirit has been poured into our hearts in a very personal way which allows us to discern God’s will for our lives and act on that will. The Spirit of God that dwells in our hearts does not take over our lives and remove our freedom and personal responsibility but it reveals to us the Truth and the infinite measure of God’s love and mercy for us. Because God has first loved us, so should we love one another. Our participation in the Spirit of God allows us to be of one heart and mind and to make our lives an offering of love to the Father. St. Paul encourages the Philippians today: “Brothers and sisters: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others. Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 2,1ff)
In a very real sense, we “have it in us” to say yes to the Father and to pattern our lives on that yes. Jesus was the example for us and the Holy Spirit gives us the grace to be able to imitate him in our lives. We don’t have to have a heart that is divided between yes and no. Jesus gives us a very clear teaching in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew when he instructs us: “Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.” (Mt 5,33-37) Simply put, he is urging us to take personal responsibility for our decisions and to not be duplicitous in our lives. We must stop playing around with our freedom. We can be the masters of our hearts and our hearts can be united to the heart of Jesus through the Spirit of Truth and Love that dwells within us.
Our task for life is conversion, to turn all of our “nos” to God and his love into “yeses”. At the end of our lives, when we face the final judgment, we want our life to be a resounding “yes” or “Amen” to the Father. We have this life and its experiences and lessons to come to this final decision and declaration of “yes” to the Father’s love.
Perhaps we are one of those who offer a “yes” but then are quick to add a “but not yet”. St. Augustine was drawn to God's glory and holiness long before he took action to commit himself to the truth and to change his life. He heard God's invitation but responded, "Yes, Lord, but not yet." Later overcoming his hesitancy, he embarked upon an adventure with God that led him to become one of the greatest saints and wisest men the world has ever known. His book, The Confessions, his sermons and other writings, but most of all his personal holiness, have drawn countless souls to Christ for over a thousand years.
There are others whose first response is a “no”. They oppose authority or are not interested in serving others. They want to follow their own way but later on they have an experience of conversion and often become fierce advocates for the truth.
In our gospel parable today Jesus is helping us to understand that our actions speak much louder than our words. What we say we are going to do has very little importance until we actually follow up on our words and show our commitment to the work of the gospel. How we actually live our lives is the proof of the commitment of our hearts. The true Christian takes the attitude of Jesus and makes his entire life a “yes” to the Father. Much like Mary whose “fiat”, her yes to God, shaped her entire life, so should we allow the Spirit of God’s truth to guide us in our response and action. Only then do we begin to fulfill God’s commandment of love. Only by uniting our human will with the divine will of God the Father, so that we are of one heart and one mind with our Lord, so that we “have the mind of Christ,” will we gain entrance into the eternal Kingdom of God. For that final act of freedom, we are personally responsible. Fair enough! Amen!